The Social Organization website (About Social Capital / my second book)

Thursday, 15 November 2007

Also, I had a very interesting conversation earlier this week with William Tincup and Bret Starr, from US based HCM marketing firm Starr Tincup who have been talking to a number of HR suppliers in the UK this week (see William's new blog). Once we'd talked about the state of the UK's HR / HCM consultancy market, I asked whether they had any advice for me / Strategic Dynamics.

One of their ideas was to set up an HCM ning, which I have started (largely for my own interest and amusement) and you can access here. I must admit I'm not too sure what I do with as yet, however!

They also observed that although I appear strong on intellectual capital, it's difficult to tell from my website and my blog what it is that I do. "You need to make the invisible visible", they said.

This wasn't a surprise to me. I'm continually frustrated that I've not yet found a way to post on my blog about my client projects without betraying client confidentiality (although I'm not sure there will ever be a solution to this). I do need to write up a couple of case studies but other than this, I would simply summarise what I do as follows:

"I help UK / European / global business that already have sound approaches to people management (I'm happy to work on basic, transactional HR activities but don't want this to be the focus of my work) to gain further improvements in the capabilities and engagement of their people, and the effectiveness of their organisations. I do this by working with my clients to:

Review and develop their people management strategies (through short diagnosis studies, workshops etc)

Lead and support major projects to implement these strategies, particularly in engagement, talent management, organisation development etc (I have plenty of experience in assessment, leadership development, organisation design, communication, change management etc)

Develop the capability of HR Directors and teams to do more of this themselves.

In everything I do, my focus is on providing a significant benefit - helping clients meet their business goals and create human capital / organisational capability that enables them to set different or more stretching business objectives.

So I think what clients get from me is an insightful and collaborative approach, but mainly the ability they need to make the difference through their people."

In many ways, I'm in the same situation with my clients, and particularly potential clients, as these clients, mainly in HR, are when they (you?) have to convince their (your) business colleagues of the benefits of investing in HCM invisibles like engagement.

So, any suggestions, particularly from those of you in corporate HR roles, as to how I can make my services less invisible to you?